By Dr. Chen Man Hin
The sudden police raid of party headquarters without a search warrant means that the police does not care about ‘rule of law’ in a civilised society.
Barging into the party premises and snatching a ‘server’, brazenly ignoring the objections of party personnel is tantamount to the behaviour of police in communist and totalitarian states like Nazi Germany and Communist Russia.
The police in Malaysia has changed its character.from a guardian of the people, to become a secret police.
Malaysia’s own secret police behaviour is no different from the behaviour of the Gestapo, the Kempetai of Japan. We are living in a police state.
DEFINITION OF A POLICE STATE. The term police state describes a state in which the government exercises rigid and repressive control over the social, economic and political life of the population. A police state typically exhibits elements of totalitarianism and social control and there is usually little or no distinction between the law and the exercise of political power by the executive. The inhabitants of a police state experience restriction on their mobility and on their freedom to express or communicate political or other views, which are subject to police monitoring and enforcement. Political control may be exerted by means of a SECRET POLICE FORCE which operates outside the boundaries normally imposed by a constitutional state.
PEOPLE MUST STAND UP FOR THEIR RIGHTS The people of Malaysia must wake up and see that their ideals of a free, democratic and multiracial society that is goverened by the rule of law does not degenerate into a police state. They must be on the alert and prevent their rights from being trampled upon.
The DAP and PR will do its duty to protect the rights of the people, and if the Prime Minister does not respond to the call of change, we shall take the case of freedom of loving people of Malaysia to the United Nations, and call for them to send a fact finding mission to Malaysia.